Planer.



No. 659,708; Patonted Dct. I6, 1900.,

G. W. STETSON.

.PLANEB.

(Application fllld 29,1900.)

(No Model") 2 Shuts-Shoat I.

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No. 659,708. Patented Oct. I6,- I900.

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P L A N E R A 'uumn filed. Jun 29, 1900.)

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TATES,

ATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE W. STETSON, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

PLANER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 659,708, dated October16, 1900.

Application filed June 29, 1900.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. STE'rsoN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of Washington, haveinvent-ed certain new and useful Improvements in Planers, of which thefollowing is a specification, reference being had therein to theaccompanying drawings.

This invention relates to improvements in planers; and its object is toprovide changeable gaging means to enable the machine to be quickly andaccurately adjusted for sizing different widths of stock.

With the devices at present in use for adj ust-ing the planer todifferent widths of stock it is generally requisite to stop the planerand shift the sizing cutter-head by an opera tion requiring considerabletime and care to a different position. In consequence of the timerequired for this operation and the diffi culty of getting the machineset back to the same adjustment when it is again needed it is has beenconsidered necessary to avoid such changing over as far as possible bymaintaining the machine on one size of work for a considerable time,such work as may come from the mill in the meantime of other sizes beingstored temporarily until sufiicient has accumulated to give an extendedrun of the planer. Such storing required considerable handling andtransportation of the stock, which is dispensed with by my invention, asit enables the planer to be almost instantly changed to work to anystandard width and successive lots of stock of different sizes, such aswill usually be presented in the running of a mill, may be taken as theyhappen to come along without any necessity of selection or storage.

To this end I provide gaging means comprising a plurality of gagedevices and means for bringing any one of such gage devices intooperative position, as hereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a plan view, partly brokenaway, of a portion of a planer provided with myinvention. Fig. 2 is aside elevation of the planer, showing its driving mechanism somewhatdiagrammatically; and Fig. 3 is a side elevation of one of the gagedevices.

The planer may be, as regards the frame 1,

Serial No. 22,085. (No model.)

horizontal cutter-heads 2, feed devices 3, and the driving mechanism, ofany usual or suitable construction, it being preferable, however, todrive or belt the machine from above, as shown, thereby enabling theplaner-bed 4 to be nearer the floor. The side cutter-heads 5 are carriedby vertical spindles 6, supported in fixed bearings 6' in the frame 1and in vertical standards 7. An overhead drivingpulley 8,withbelt-tightening devices 9, serves through belts 10 11 12 to drive thefeed-gear 13, the pulleys 14 0f the horizontal cutterheads, and pulleys15 on the upper ends of the vertical spindles 6, carrying thecutterheads 5. The planer is shown with cutters arranged in duplicate onopposite sides, so as to work two pieces at once.

In the bed 4 on each side of the machine are arranged a plurality ofgage devices consisting of gage blocks or frames 16, movable vertically,but fitting with one another and with the frame, so as to preventhorizontal displacement. These gage-blocks are spaced or positioned sothat their faces which are directed toward the side cutter-heads arerespectively at certain predetermined distances from the working line ofthe cutter-head corresponding to the standard sizes to be turned out.Each of these gage-blocks is supported by a system of levers, enablingit to be depressed until it is flush with or, if desired, belowthesurface of the bed 4 or to be raised or protruded above such surface,so as to serve as a guide or back support for the work. An advantageousconstruction is a togglejoint support 17 for each end of the gageblock,pivoted at their lower ends to the machine-frame and at their upper endsto the block, while the centers or knees of the toggles are connectedtogether by a link or bar 18 and to an operating-handle 20 by a rod orlink 19. Levers 21 may be provided to force the work back to thegage-block in starting. By throwing all the handles 20 forward in theposition shown in full lines in Fig. 3 all the gage-blocks will bedepressed, so as to lie flush with the table, and the machine will thenreceive a board of the full width between the cutter-head and thecentral beam or rail 22 of the machine, which serves as a guide for themaximum width to be planed. If any smaller width is to be sized, thenthe corresponding handle is pulled back into the position shown indotted lines in Fig. 3, (and also in full lines for the third handlefrom the left in Fig. 2,) thereby elevating the corresponding gage-blockinto operative position to serve as a guide or back support for suchnarrower board. This adjustment may be eifected instantly withoutstopping the machine, and

diiferent sizes may thus be handled in suc- 1 cession Withoutloss oftime. Moreover, Whenever the machine returns to a given size theadjustment is practically identical, so that boards of the same nominalsize will be as a matter of fact identical in width, although themachine may have turned out other sizes intermediately, a result thatcan hardly be accomplished even .with the greatest care by the methodsheretofore in use, as the setting of a piece of machinery to exactmeasured 1 position is a difficult and uncertain matter. I

WhatI claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a planer, the combination with the planer-bed and a cutter-head,of a plurality of gage devices arranged in the planer-bed and movablevertically but guided so as to maintain definite distances from thecutterhead, of lever devices supporting said gage devices and a handleconnected to each lever device.

2. In a planer, the combination with the planer-bed and a cutter-head,of" a plurality of gage devices arranged in the planer-bed and movablevertically but guided so as to maintain definite distances from thecutter: head, of toggle devices supporting said gage devices and ahandle connected to each toggle device.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.l

GEORGE 'W. STETSON. Witnesses:

CHARLES F. MUNDAY, PIERRE BARNES.

